February 28, 2017

Making Seri Gohan with Cultivated Seri and Cultivating Seri from Roots/栽培のセリでセリご飯を作り、根っこでセリを栽培

Yesterday, my father bought three bunches of cultivated seri.
昨日、父が栽培のセリを三束買ってきました。

My father wanted to cultivate seri from the roots, so I cut off the roots, with about 5 cm of the stems attached, and
父は、根っこからセリを栽培したいと言うので、根っこを、茎を5 cm程度付けて、切り取り、
put the roots in a container full of water.
根っこを水の入った容器に入れました。
I am now fully convinced that cultivated seri should NOT be parboiled to make seri gohan, unlike wild seri. The reason is simple: Cultivated seri has much less "aku" (harshness) than the wild, and need not be parboil. Besides, you will lose much of its flavor if you parboil it first.
セリご飯を作る際は、野生のセリと異なり、栽培のセリは茹でるべきではないと確信しています。理由は簡単です。栽培のセリは野生のセリよりずっと灰汁(あく、アク)が少なく、必要はないからです。それに茹でると風味がかなりなくなってしまいます。

So, I simply cut the seri into 2-3 cm lengths, rinsed with water, drained, and put it in a frying pan with some oil. I put on the lid, and heated it for 3-4 minutes. I used salad oil, not sesame seed oil.
というわけで、セリを単に2、3センチに長さに切り、水で洗い、水を切り、少し油を敷いたフライパンに入れ、3、4分加熱しました。 油はごま油ではなく、サラダ油を使いました。
(Last time I made seri gohan, I used sesame seed oil, but my father said he preferred salad oil.)
(この前にセリご飯を作った時は、ごま油を使いましたが、父はサラダ油のほうが好きだそうです。)
Then, I added leftover rice.
次に残りごはんを入れました。
I should have microwaved the rice first.
ご飯をまず電子レンジで加熱しておくべきでした。

I added some salt and some soy sauce.
塩を少し、しょう油も少し入れました。
Done!
完成です!

My father planted the roots in a plot later.
父は後で、根っこを植えました。

This is the second time he has planted seri roots. The first roots have grown only slightly.
セリの根っこを植えるのはこれで二回目です。最初のはほんの少し伸びただけです。

7 comments:

Khash said...

Hi Hiroyuki,

Thank you for putting this up. I keep learning about new dishes every time you put something up.

I have two questions:
1. Is seri entirely different in taste from the normal celery?
2. Does seri gohan need to have sesame seeds sprinkled on top before serving?
Thanks.

Hiroyuki said...

Khash:

1. Yes, yes, totally different!
2. No, no need to sprinkle sesame seeds, although some people do so, as I have confirmed by going a google image search for せりご飯 (seri gohan in Japanese).

Khash said...

Thanks for confirming.

I was planning to make the dish exactly as you described but I guess seri gohan with normal celery won't taste good.

Now I have to find a way to source seri and taste the difference!

9895039531 seeandoh said...

The Seri leaves looks like Cilantro, Parsley leaves etc. The fresh leaves can be used as a garnish also for rice I guess. Good to know about this dish. What will be side dish ?

Hiroyuki said...

seeandoh: Some people say that cilantro and parsley are similar in flavor, while others don't. It may be interesting to try them to see how they taste when combined with rice.

Side dish? Several types of pickle and miso soup!

Anonymous said...

Seri really is an early vegetable, my seri has shown much new growth since - I think - around February despite the fact that it's still rather cold hereabouts. Perfect to satisfy that craving of green vegetables that I sometimes experience at this time of the year. Inexplicable, because of course fresh vegetables are available in any grocery all around the year. I seem to remember that sometimes seri is differentiated in two types, one of which prefers a wetter habitat?

I'm sure you and your father know that one can grow seri out of cuttings? Seri often sends out offshoots anyway, it can be a bit of a weed. I cut off some stalks, place them in water until short roots appear. I've propagated most of my seri plants that way. The original cutting often dies off but numerous vigorous new shoots soon appear. One can probably skip the placement in water and try planting them directly in moist soil.

Regards, Philip

Hiroyuki said...

Philip: Thank you very much for your detailed information.

This is our very first attempt to grow seri from roots, and I referred to several sites, such as
http://www-herb.hpmap.net/seri/saibai_seri_01.html
(Japanese only)

I hope we succeed in growing it by planting the roots directly in soil, but next time, I think I'll try your method, maybe indoors, so we can get seri in a relatively short time. Thanks again for your suggestion.

Every year, my father can get lots of seri from the yard around the house, but something quite strange has happened this year. He can get absolutely no seri from the yard! That's why he has to buy bunches of seri from the supermarket.